Reprieve nearly misses death con

A convicted rapist was sent to the national penitentiary's lethal injection chamber early yesterday morning in a harrowing brush with death despite President Estrada's decision to suspend judicial executions for the rest of the year.

A stunned Esteban Victor was escorted back to his death row cell two hours later, after prison officials confirmed the moratorium order from justice department authorities.

It was the second major slip since the Philippines restored capital punishment in 1994 to curb heinous crimes.

Last year, the President changed his mind at the last minute and granted a reprieve to convicted child rapist Eduardo Agbayani who was about to be executed. Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora, however, was not able to relay the presidential order on time because the phone "hot line" at the penitentiary was on fax tone and failed to halt the execution.

Prisons chaplain Eduardo Olaguer said the 41-year-old Victor smiled as he was brought out of the lethal injection chamber early yesterday morning but cried upon returning to his cell, probably realizing what could have happened to him.

The convict was brought out of his maximum security cell at 5:45 a.m. and was to have been put to death at 3 p.m. He was checked by doctors and was given his last breakfast of rice and beef sinigang. He asked for additional shrimp sinigang but was not given any.

"He was shivering when he stepped into the death chamber and was puzzled why he was there," Olaguer said.

The President announced last Friday that he had approved a request by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines for a moratorium on judicial executions this year, the Church's Jubilee year which marks the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus' birth.

Bureau of Corrections Director Pedro Sistoza said he ordered Victor to be brought to the execution chamber after he failed to get a written confirmation of the President's order despite several phone calls to Malacañang and the justice department last Tuesday.

"Pinagpasa-pasahan lang kami (We were given the run-around). And we were just following the execution manual, which states that only the President can stop the execution and decided to go on with it without the confirmation order," Sistoza said.

"What I wanted was for it to be in black and white," he said. "I wanted them to fax the order to my office."

Olaguer frantically called up journalists and asked them to use their connections in Malacañang to reach the President and halt the impending execution.

Zamora was later interviewed by radio station dzMM and said he would call prison officials.

An hour later, Zamora told the radio station the President has granted and signed the previous day a reprieve order for Victor and four other convicts scheduled for execution up to May. The order was relayed by word to justice department and prison authorities, but a copy was apparently not sent to Sistoza's office.

At 7:55 a.m. yesterday, Justice Undersecretary Ramon Liwag ordered prison officials to stop the execution of Victor, who was accused of raping his two teenage daughters in Payatas, Quezon City in June, 1996.

Victor was convicted by the Quezon City regional trial court on Aug. 8, 1996 and the Supreme Court affirmed his conviction on July 9, 1998.

The four other convicts who won reprieve were Gregorio Pagupat, who was supposed to be executed on Apr. 5; Felipe de los Santos, Apr. 26; Renante Robles Jr., Apr. 26; and Rodrigo Calma, May 9.

Pagupat was sentenced to death for four counts of rape, De los Santos for rape, Robles for rape with homicide, and Calma, for two counts of rape.

In granting the reprieve, the President invoked his powers under Section 19, Article VII of the Constitution which empowers him to grant executive clemency.

Meanwhile, Liwag defended Sistoza's decision to put Victor in the death chamber since there was "no official communication from Malacañang."

"He was just doing his job, otherwise he would be remiss in his duties," he told reporters after prison officials had heaved a sigh of relief.

Liwag said Sistoza's action would not amount to anything since he was just following the procedures as provided for in the implementing rules and regulation of the Death Penalty Law.

The Philippines has executed seven men by lethal injection since capital punishment was reimposed in 1994.

In another development, Sen. Renato Cayetano urged the President to review the legality of his order granting "wholesale" moratorium on the execution of death convicts.

Cayetano, who chairs the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said that although the Constitution empowers the President to grant reprieves to individual convicts, it is silent on the wholesale deferment of executions.

"The President has the constitutional right to grant reprieves, but it cannot be legally construed to include a wholesale deferment of scheduled executions until the end of the year. As a matter of practice, the grant of a reprieve is on a case-to-case basis," he said.

Cayetano added the constitutional right of the President to grant reprieves is on an individual, and not collective, basis. - With Marichu Villanueva, Delon Porcalla, Perseus Echeminada, AP, AFP